So, we have had a look at chronic and acute problems. The next two questions in the Circuit Questionnaire ask similar questions about frequent and persistent problems.
Is the Problem Frequent?
A frequent problem recurs. It may be worth asking why it recurs. Is it something in:
- the customer’s environment that keeps coming up? If so, is it predictable or irregular? A predictable issue may be seasonal, like hay fever. Irregular problems may be where your customer makes common mistakes repeatedly but to no obvious pattern.
- your customer’s behaviour that triggers the problem? The customer may not be aware they are causing the problem. It may not even be something they’re doing that is wrong, maybe a side-effect of an otherwise constructive activity.
- your customer’s organisation that throws up the problem; its governance and not its environment.
It can of course be any combination. Your customer may have identified they have a recurring problem. They may have a good idea what the reason is and approach you because they think you can solve the problem. Depending on what you sell, you may be happy to hand your solution over or concerned to probe a little deeper.
Or they may not have clue what the cause of the problem is. They cannot see a pattern and turn to you for a fresh pair of eyes.
Is the Problem Persistent?
A persistent problem may have been there for a long time. It is possible the client may have no idea when or why the problem started. They may have noticed it and over time realised it is a problem and needs to be resolved in some way.
It may be worth asking whether it is a constant presence, like mould growing on an internal wall or a high density of frequent problems. A fire alarm that often trips out could be seen as a persistent problem, especially if it doesn’t trip out often enough to call for doing something about it!
So, a member of staff whose behaviour triggers problems could be seen as a frequent problem. The problem may be persistent where several members of staff adopt the same behaviour.
Frequent or Persistent?
This is not just semantics because frequent and persistent problems may need to be approached differently. If a staffing problem is one person, the chances are they are the cause of the problem. They need more training or they have a grudge or they are stressed.
If it is a persistent problem, affecting several staff the chances are the problem is elsewhere. It may be not so much that staff need more training as an issue with the training itself. If one person has a grudge it could be their problem; if several display similar behaviour maybe they have a point? One stressed person may have a problem at home, if it is several people maybe the problem is in the work they are doing or how it is organised.
If you sell mouse traps and someone has mice, it is perhaps a simple sale. If they keep coming back, is it a frequent problem or persistent? At what point does anyone ask, where are these mice coming from and is there any way we can address the source of the problem? If you sell mouse traps, that’s fine, you know the problem and you have plenty of customers. A specialist in rodent extermination may have a more challenging approach.